July 2024.
As part of the program Regional Initiative to Combat Disinformation “Western Balkans Anti-Disinformation Hub: Exposing Malign Influences through Watchdog Journalism”, we present you a new monthly analyses of fake news and disinformation narratives.
Guardians of Serbian Identity versus Political and Economic Interests
Although it took place in the first half of June, the first All-Serbian Assembly organized by the authorities of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska, as well as its potential implications, are topics that domestic media have frequently covered throughout July. At the beginning of July, the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska adopted the Declaration from the first All-Serbian Assembly, and by the end of the month, after several days of debate, so did the Serbian Parliament.
The ratification process of the All-Serbian Assembly Declaration opens up space for implementing the agreed-upon steps. Regarding the far-reaching nature of the proposed measures in the adopted document, they are of a limited character, with predominantly rhetorical emphasis on national unity and principles of Serbian national policy, and calls for stronger coordination between the authorities of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska.
Domestic pro-government and pro-Russian media, in the context of the adopted Declaration and debates about the effects of the All-Serbian Assembly, frequently reported using pronounced nationalist rhetoric, promoting maximalist interpretations about the scope of the Assembly and the Declaration, and established nationalist anti-Western and anti-opposition narratives.
“Serbian path into the 21st century,” “historically significant document,” “program for salvation” – how did domestic media report on the All-Serbian Assembly and the Declaration on the protection of the rights and future of the Serbian people?
Pro-government media intensely covered these topics throughout July, highlighting the far-reaching nature of the event and the adopted documents, emphasizing the strong national policy of Serbian authorities, and sharply attacking opposition critics of the All-Serbian Assembly.
The most influential pro-government tabloid, Informer, emphasized that it is a “historically significant document” and that it represents the “basis for the political struggle for the survival of Serbs.” Statements by the highest state officials were reported, indicating that the Declaration on the protection of national and political rights and the common future of the Serbian people “is not the result of anyone’s wishes… it is a program for our salvation, a Declaration for our survival… a platform, an umbrella under which everyone should stand… in creating the future of our people,” and, on the other hand, that “the Declaration is not a pamphlet or fiction, but a true national declaration and our political response to the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and in the Republic of Srpska.”
Informer‘s interlocutors claimed that the Declaration proclaims “unity and solidarity” of the Serbian people in “fundamental, vital, national interests.” They added that “Serbs are not the only people divided by borders” and that, therefore, the Declaration adopted at the All-Serbian Assembly is important because “we are talking about the continuity of awakening the consciousness of the Serbian (nation).”
On the other hand, alongside exaggerating and positively emphasizing the national components of Serbian government policies, Informer repeated previously well-known and established anti-opposition narratives, targeting occasional critics of the All-Serbian Assembly and the resulting documents. Characteristic headlines in Informer include “disgusting anti-Serbian messages are blasting…(as) the All-Serbian Assembly is so-called and ominous,” and “a festival of hatred towards everything Serbian,” with associated claims that opposition media “day by day carry out a monstrous program of spreading total autochauvinism in Serbia… transmitting brutal anti-Serbian propaganda that the Declaration adopted at the All-Serbian Assembly is more dangerous than the SANU Memorandum from 1986.”
In a similar tone, the portal Alo reported on how “opposition media do not stop attacking everything Serbian,” and how they “spread total autochauvinism,” alluding to opposition critiques about the potential destabilizing consequences of the All-Serbian Assembly. Through the news of this pro-government portal, anti-Western messages also emerge, such as the illustrative claim that “they are desperate because the ties between the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska are strengthening… and even more desperate because Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić… is doing everything to strengthen the unity of the Serbian people.” Republika, the portal of the influential tabloid Srpski telegraf, reported in an extremely negative connotation about potential criticisms of the All-Serbian Assembly, linking anti-opposition and anti-Western narratives. “Albanian lobbyist and professor Server has completely lost it! Warned about the independence of Srpska – it is evident that he has not read the Declaration of the All-Serbian Assembly” and “Raving Serb-hater… attacked the All-Serbian Assembly, then called for a crusade against Serbia” – these are examples of headlines from the Republika portal that reflect the promoted narratives.
Srbin.info interpreted the All-Serbian Assembly and related national issues through the same lens. An authorial text on the Srbin.info portal states that it is important that the All-Serbian Assembly was held – “even if only to see who it bothers, even if there were no particular surprises in this regard, including the dissatisfied grumbling of Western media in Serbian about the gathering of Serbian states and their church instead of everyone moving nicely into Euro-Atlantic integrations.” It further emphasizes how “the All-Serbian Assembly act of preventive, but not at all premature defense… had a state and national character, not a party one.”
Pro-Russian media in Serbia also frequently wrote in a nationalist tone about the All-Serbian Assembly and the adoption of the latter Declaration in the parliaments of the Republic of Srpska and Serbia during July. On the domestic portal of the Russian state news agency Sputnik, key points of the adopted document were highlighted from their perspective – such as that the Serbian people represent a unified whole, the rejection of prefixes before the noun “Serbs,” overcoming historical divisions within the Serbian people and national reconciliation, the inalienability of Kosovo and Metohija as a determinant of Serbian national identity, and finally, the rejection of the UN Resolution on Srebrenica. The Balkan service of another Russian state media outlet – Russia Today (RT) – marked the All-Serbian Assembly and the joint declaration of “Serbia and Srpska” as the “Serbian path into the 21st century.”
With statements that it is a historic document, which will form the basis of relations between Serbia and the Republic of Srpska, RT interlocutors maximally emphasized the perceived long-term national significance of these events. “This is a new attempt to change for the better, not only through political but also through supra-political, patriotic direction and means… Serbian fate is marked as all-Serbian to explain that these are problems felt by all members of the Serbian people wherever they live,” RT interlocutors state, hyperbolically declaring that it is also an “adrenaline injection into the heart of our people in an attempt to unite, because if we do not unite, we will not be able to defend ourselves.”
RT, promoting nationalist narratives, also pointed out that “Serbs have decided for the first time to institutionalize their resistance to attempts to endanger the Serbian national question in these areas,” and that the Declaration represents “the highest level of unification of Serbian interests and the interests of Serbs in modern history.” In the assessment that “nothing will be the same anymore,” RT authors write that “this is an important message to the world that the Serbian people see themselves as unified and intend to preserve that… the message is also that there will be no renunciation of Kosovo and Metohija, the Republic of Srpska, or the Serbian people in the surrounding area… and the West must reckon with that.”
The fact is that the All-Serbian Assembly, held in June, as well as the proclaimed Declaration on the Protection of National and Political Rights and the Common Future of the Serbian People, which was ratified in the parliaments of the Republic of Srpska and Serbia during July, create momentum for enhancing coordination of political actions and promoting even closer cooperation on all national issues. However, it should be noted that Serbia and the Republic of Srpska already have a number of agreements on special relations and ties that cover a significant range of issues from the newly adopted Declaration. Furthermore, the perceived key points and principles of the “national program,” as the document is referred to in leading pro-government and pro-Russian media and which is supposedly “historical” in content, are already contained in the highest legal acts of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska, raising questions about how many “historical” novelties it brings. Certainly, the qualitative deepening of relations will largely depend on the full implementation of the provisions of the Declaration, which is uncertain at the given moment.
Regarding media reporting in Serbia on the All-Serbian Assembly and the subsequent adoption of the Declaration during July, it is also important to point out that the aggressive promotion of nationalist narratives and the “exaggeration” of the significance and scope of government policies in so-called national issues has narrower day-to-day political purposes in terms of garnering “political points” within the predominantly nationally oriented electorate and strengthening the ratings of ruling options, as well as redirecting public attention from other potentially unsuccessful and problematic topics.
In the specific case, it is indicative that in July, pro-government and pro-Russian media close to Serbian authorities insisted on the “national” Declaration of the All-Serbian Assembly versus the issue of lithium mining as a burning political topic in Serbia, which somewhat threatens the rating of the ruling option. Namely, in the first half of July, the Constitutional Court annulled the Serbian government’s decision to halt the “Jadar” lithium mining project – thereby creating the legal conditions for the controversial project, which had been halted after mass protests a few years ago, to continue. A few days later, a Memorandum of Serbia and the EU on strategic partnership in the supply of critical raw materials, including lithium, was signed. In the weeks that followed, mass protests against the lithium project, which currently has a predominantly negative “reputation” in public opinion, took place across the country.
Author: Igor Mirosavljević